


John's Jumpers

by distantstarlight



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff, John's Jumpers, Johnlock - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 07:14:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1931571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distantstarlight/pseuds/distantstarlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a bit of fluff for fluffiness sake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	John's Jumpers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ravenwolf36](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravenwolf36/gifts).



 

Sherlock didn’t know what to do. It was all very distracting. Pacing back and forth through his flat was boring but if he left, he’d have to leave the problem behind and it wasn’t solved yet. Sherlock paced even more, trying to sort it all out.

He’d done his experiments.  
He’d cross-referenced his information.  
He’d done comparative studies.  
He’d gotten slapped once in public for touching someone’s shoulder.  
Two people at the Yard now avoided him for the same reason.

The problem remained. There was something different about John’s jumpers and Sherlock couldn’t let it go until he figured it out. It ate at him that he couldn’t figure it out but he was certain of the issue. John’s jumpers were somehow very different than other jumpers and Sherlock simply couldn’t sort out why.

When John had first moved in Sherlock hadn’t really noticed the jumpers. They were a background noise on the body of the most interesting person Sherlock had ever met. John was so ordinary; Sherlock couldn’t help but be amazed. He’d never met such an average person. He’d done his research there too; John was dead center on nearly every chart he could find. Average height, average weight, most common hair color, most common shade of blue eyes, most common first name. Everything. There was absolutely nothing about John Watson that stood out. That is, until you realized something about John. John Watson was a surprise.

He was surprisingly clever.  
He was surprisingly strong.  
He was surprisingly full of admiration for Sherlock’s talents.  
He was surprisingly lethal.  
John was not ordinary. How surprising.

For every bit of John Watson that seemed average there was a complement of hidden qualities that were anything but and Sherlock found he was intrigued. It all seemed to center around the jumpers. It was fascinating.

When John wore his ordinary clothes and went out into the world to be ordinary in front of everyone he simply blended in. John could disappear in the front of a crowd if he wanted to, and sometimes he did. He didn’t like attention, not the way Sherlock liked it. John would rather be the unnoticed one in the shadows, even writing his blog so that Sherlock was always the star, and that was a surprise too. John made Sherlock famous, well, more famous, and wanted none of the glory for himself.

Sherlock examined John’s jumpers whenever he was out of the flat, normally waiting until John was working at the clinic before removing them one at a time from his wardrobe and secreting them downstairs to HIS bedroom to lay them out on his bed and ponder their mystery. The oatmeal colored one was the most provocative. Like John it was very ordinary, very plain, very unnoticeable. Sherlock stroked the tips of his fingers over it. Soft, like kittens. The wool should be rough and scratchy but it wasn’t. It was luxurious and well-worn, all the discomfort long since overcome by usage and time. John almost always wore the same few things. He was a frugal man, not given to excessive indulgences.

Sherlock heard the front door open and shut and he panicked. Every last one of John’s jumpers were laid out deliberately on Sherlock’s bed and there was no way to refold them neatly and secret them back away where they lived. John was at Sherlock’s bedroom door, “Got my schedule wrong, I don’t go in until…..” John stopped talking.

Sherlock stood there guiltily, the evidence of his uninvited examinations laying incriminatingly in the open. John stepped forward and frowned just a bit before turning his curious blue eyes up at Sherlock who for some reason then blushed a brilliant red. “It’s for science John.” he said weakly.

“Science? What, my jumpers hold the secrets to the universe? Why are you playing with my clothes Sherlock?” John didn’t sound upset though he had every right to be. He’d made Sherlock swear to NEVER go in John’s room, a promise Sherlock had obviously broken. John should be livid but he wasn’t.

“I needed to check something peculiar, something I can’t figure out.” admitted Sherlock after a minute or two of John not just leaving. The smaller man had his feet planted firmly on the floor, his arms clasped behind his back and Sherlock realized John had put himself at ease and a surprising bit of heat curled low in his belly.

“What’s that then?” John’s eyes were warm and curious, not angry or accusing. He was genuinely interested and for some reason that made Sherlock flush all over again.

“When you put your jumpers on something changes.” Sherlock said. It didn’t sound right. That wasn’t exactly it but if he knew what "it" was to begin with, maybe he could tell John with greater clarity.

“What changes?”

“I don’t know, that’s what I’m trying to figure out!” said Sherlock with some irritation.

John pursed his lips thoughtfully for a minute then surprised Sherlock all over again when he removed his coat, walked to the bed and selected the jumper closest to the edge. It was his Christmas one and it was hideous. John pulled it on. “So?”

Sherlock swallowed hard but stepped closer to John, nervously reaching out and touching John’s shoulder. It was soft, warm, pleasant. Nobody else’s shoulder had been that way. They’d all been hard, cold, and decidedly unpleasant. Sherlock had washed his hands after. “I don’t understand still. It changes.”

John just nodded and pulled off his Christmas jumpers. Suddenly Sherlock’s nose was filled with a rush of John’s scent as the smaller man raised his arms to remove the item. John was so warm, his scent so rich in information that Sherlock nearly bent close to smell him better. He stopped himself just in time. John pulled on a black and white one.

Sherlock stopped himself from groaning. John was rather surprisingly handsome in black and white. He seemed more golden than ever and Sherlock wondered why he felt the urge to lean in again. He touched John’s shoulder instead. It was the same. Warm. Inviting. Soft. “I still don’t understand.”

“That’s alright, we’ll work it out.” said John patiently as he stripped it off. The bottom button of his shirt was a bit undone and for a microsecond Sherlock saw a flash of John’s slightly soft belly. His mouth dried and he didn’t understand that either. John pulled on a jumper that had fabric cats sewn onto it. It was hideous as well. John looked adorable.

One at a time John tried on all his jumpers and allowed Sherlock to touch his shoulder. All of them were the same and at last John was standing in the one that troubled Sherlock the most, the oatmeal cable-knit. “Well?”

“It helped and it didn’t help at all.” said Sherlock with some frustration. The jumpers must be the reason! They were the single constant in the problem! Every time John wore one of his jumpers it happened and Sherlock needed to know why. Other people’s jumpers didn’t have the same effect so what was it?

“Right, so, if I understand what you’re not telling me, there’s something about my jumpers that changes something you used to understand and now you don’t understand it anymore.” Finally, someone understood Sherlock!

“Exactly John. I’ve tried to determine what the factor was but after the process of elimination my determinations are no more conclusive than they were before. I’ll need to study it further.” He’d lose sleep but he was used to going without. John just folded up his now discarded jumpers into a neat stack, removing the oatmeal one as well which made it a lot easier for Sherlock to try and think.

“Well, I’m not a scientist like you but I do have a bit of an idea. Mind if I try a small experiment of my own?” John looked serious and Sherlock was relieved. At least John understood how Sherlock processed information and was willing to help him understand, unlike everyone else.

“Please John, do whatever you need to. I just want to understand.”

“Alright, remember you said that.” John stepped into Sherlock’s personal space, chest to chest with Sherlock, reached up one small hand to grip a bit of Sherlock’s hair and pulled him down for a long sweet kiss.

Sherlock’s knees buckled but John just followed him down to the floor and kept kissing him. Sherlock’s entire body was suddenly entirely focused on what was happening to his lips. John was delicious and warm. John was commanding and skillful. John was turning Sherlock into one giant puddle of pure hormones with one very rigid exception. “I think I figured it out John.”

“I think you did too Sherlock.” John kissed Sherlock again, this time with the taller man’s assistance. The rest of John’s experiment required no clothes at all and the results were satisfying as well as conclusive. It turned out John’s jumpers were not what changed how Sherlock saw the world now, it was Sherlock’s own heart which he had inadvertently exchanged for John’s. Both men were happy about it, each heart in its new home, warm, cozy, and content.


End file.
